We were in the corridor once we entreated through the door, to the left and right were doors leading to a different office room. And above us was a grate leading to inside the vents.

I whispered to everyone trying not to alert anyone beyond the door at the end of the corridor.

“Right now we have to find a chair…”

Then I felt a tapping on my left shoulder. I turn around and see Luca scratching his head and his eyes stared off in different directions.

“Um……...Antonio……..is it okay if I………..yknow………..stay behind and watch the guy outside?”

I whispered back at him.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I'm really, really, big……..I don’t know how I feel about crawling inside there.”

He pointed up to the grate.

I understood why he felt the way he did if I was his size and if I were to crawl into that vent even if it was able to fit me id feel very claustrophobic, hell, I feel a bit claustrophobic just looking at it from out here.

“Alright, but don’t get into trouble ya hear, if anything happens outside and you can’t take care of it leave immediately, even if it means leaving us, we will find a way out in no time.”

I gave him a thumbs up and he gave one back as he smiled, no longer scratching the back of his head, and his eyes straying in different directions. But before Luca left through the back door, I still had him do a little bit of work.

“Hey Luca, since you're not going up there with us, and you are a mighty, strong, and large man why don’t ya give us a hand in getting up there?”

I say that as I point to the grate.

“Well I don’t mind, I’d feel bad if all I did was knock someone out.”

He walked below the grate, one of the middle-aged men gave him a crowbar and he started to pry the grate open. He used the flat end of the crowbar and wedged it inside the side of the grate, he then pushed the crowbar up and that forced the metal grate to pop out, before it could hit the ground Luca used his left hand to catch it, potentially saving us from getting caught.

Luca then leaned over putting his hand on top of the other with his palms facing the ceiling, I decided to go up first since I was the “leader” although that role hasn’t really been established yet I’d thought I would assume the role for the time being.

I put my foot on Luca's palms and lifted me up to the vent. But before I reached the vent I whispered to Luca, “You might want to wash your hands, I stepped on some unknowns things today.” After I whispered to him I had reached the vent and was now on my elbow and knees.

“W-What!?!?!?” Luca whisper Yelled.

“Don’t worry Luca he’s probably lying.”

Once I was in the vent my squad members followed after me in. It was dark and gloomy inside the vents but we came prepared, we had small flashlights on us that we will use to navigate through the vents.

“Alright, I’ll be off, good luck guys.”

Although I couldn’t see what was happening below me after I heard Luca say that he probably walked out the door.

I used my knees and elbows to slowly crawl forward, after crawling for a bit I started to hear something below me, a lot of chitter-chatter, what was also mixed in was the banging of metal.

I crawl a bit forward and came across a grate, I face downward towards the grate and through the gaps, I could see dozens of suited men all armed with Tommy guns and BARs, the workers worked in converter belts and they were hitting something with a hammer. This called for more exploration.

As we crawled forward we came across a separating path, there were two options available, either go left or right.

“Hey, where do these paths take us?”

I whispered to the men in the back.

“Both the left and right should lead to more rooms.”

If we were doing a showing mission we should at least thoroughly examine each area to the fullest. I called for us too split up, since there was an uneven number of bodies present, one team had to have either less or more people. Or, since there were seven people present, one person would stay behind and watch this area, while the two teams of three will explore.

It seemed to be the best choice, once we regroup outside we’ll be able to share information we collected and discuss whether or not trying to contest for this place is a good idea or not.

“Alright, men let's go.”

We split into three groups, one of the old men stayed behind and the other three were on the same team, they would be going left, while Francesco, the middle-aged man, and I would go right.

The metal vent was cold, even while wearing my white dress shirt, which surely has been dirtied by the vent, I could feel the cold touch my skin.

From within the vent with my flashlight on, I could see multiple grates ahead of us. It seemed that every room had a grate.

“Hey did you hear about the party the boss is throwing at headquarters tomorrow?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It’s gonna be all day starting from seven AM right!”

“There's probably gonna be plenty of broads at the party!”

Party? Happening tomorrow? This may be a blessing in disguise! I gotta relay this information to the others once we regroup, this is something we can use!

Even though we've gained this valuable information we kept on exploring. Who knows what else we can gather that'll be useful.

We keep crawling like caterpillars on a stick and absorbing as much info as we could from those speaking inside the rooms. A lot of information gained could be easily thrown away, knowing if someone has a medical condition with symptoms very horrible sounding doesn't help me take revenge on the Bambinos.

Once we reached a dead-end he had to shift gears and crawl backwards while going backwards id occasionally accidentally kick the person behind be on head or shoulders and each time id apologize for it, going back was definitely one of the harder parts in this operation.

The three of us finally reach the fork in the road that we had passed earlier, and at the same time, we got there the other group of three arrived as well.

The middle-aged man that was left here by himself probably saw that the two groups had arrived and were moving back and so he backed up as well.

From behind me, I hear the mobsters lightly land on the floor. When it was my turn to get out of the vent I had my legs leave the vent and support the weight of my body with my arms as I leave my legs dangling outside the vent. Finally, I slowly lowered my body to the point where I couldn't anymore and let go of the vent once most of my body was out of the vent.

I land on the floor making a light thunk sound. I dust off anything that was caught on my shirt and pants that I got while I was inside the vent.

I lightly whispered, “Good job boys, let's get outta here.”

We slowly sneak out the door and see Luca sitting on the guard that we tied up not too long ago, the tied-up guard was wiggling like work and mumbling but his mouth was stuffed and so I couldn't get what he was saying. Eh, not like I care.

We get in the vehicles and as we're on the road I tell Luca who was on the passenger seat the information I've gathered from the goons of Bambino.

“Then we should skip the factory and take their headquarters tomorrow.” Said Luca.

“Well, hopefully, Flavio allows us to mobilize and take the Bambino headquarters.”

Well, there's no way Flavio will not let us go! This is the perfect chance to strike! They'll be preoccupied with the party which will allow us to just walk up and attack when their guards are down. This war might be over before it even started.

After a while we arrive at headquarters, the mobsters when we arrived all gathered at the front gate all looking eager to hear what information we gathered at the factory.

“So! so! When we capturing the factory!”

“I can’t wait to fill those fuckers with lead!”

“Let’s get them!”

Adjust all the loud yelling I could hear Lucas voice but because of the rowdy mobsters Lucas words were drowned in the pool of noise.

“EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!!!”

Luca drained all the noise out of the pool and started to address their questions.

“We won’t be capturing the factory unfortunately.”

“What!”

“No way!”

All the mobsters started to limp over as if their souls were sucked out of their bodies.

“Instead! We’re gonna capture the Bambino’s head quarters!”

The crowd of mobsters regained their life and cheered as loud as they could, as if they weren’t loud enough they turned it up to the max.

I guess that’s what bombs sound like haha!

“All that’s left is to get approval from the boss!”

Me, Luca, and Francesco split the crowd in half creating a path for us to walk to the mansion. It should still be before six pm so Flavio most likely should still be somewhere within the mansion.

We walk to the planning room and when I opened the door Flavio, as well as other old guys stared at my direction.

“So what do you think Antonio? Should we take the factory or not?” Said Flavio.

“We shouldn’t.”

“And why’s that?”

“Instead of taking the factory we could easily take their headquarters, while inside the factory I got some pretty interesting information, apparently there’s gonna be a part at their headquarters, so that’s the perfect time to strike!”

Flavio had a smirk on his face.

“Well, I guess we’re starting this sooner than expected, get everyone ready tomorrow early in the morning we’ll start moving out once everyone’s ready.”

Yes!

I tried my hardest to contain my excitement in front of the boss and the higher-ups, but I couldn’t hide all of it, I ended up leaking out a smirk.

“Let’s get ready. You boys should get ready too, it’s gonna be one hell of a day tomorrow.”

“Yes sir!”

The three of us leave the room and exit the mansion and the mobsters outside were cheering.

Hmm, I wonder what Jackie’s doing right now on the other side of the world, been a while since I’ve seen him, oh would he get a kick out of this if he were here, hopefully he comes back soon. I wonder how he’ll react to Michelangelo's death, we were all good buddies.

I feel someone hand on my right shoulder, I turn to see who it is and it was Jackie.

“W-What are you doing here!!!”

“Surprise!”

“Weren’t You abroad!?!?!?”

“Well I was, but now I’m not! Once I heard my good pal passed away of course I’m gonna show up!”

Yesterday was Michelangelo's death so someone must’ve told Jackie the moment it happened for him to get here so fast.

“Hey, Jackie good to see you again.” Said Luca

“Why aren’t the two of you surprised!”

“We were in on it, we wanted to make it a surprise y'know!”

After a couple of laughs and fooling around the air got more serious. Jackie went in front of me and said.

“Tomorrow’s gonna be a gruesome day, this’ll be the first time your gonna see this kinda stuff and it may not be the last, I just wanna make sure your one hundred percent ready for this.”

I nod up and down.

“I’m more than one hundred percent ready for this! No doubt about it!”

He handed me a BAR.

“Of course you are.”

I grip the BAR tightly, tomorrow was the day, justice will be served.